A report on the boom in the media industry despite the worst recession in 70 years.

Northern Ireland constantly wrestles with identity. Whether that identity is national, political, sectarian or age-related, our people display their wares openly. This is why we see kerbstones painted, murals dedicated and flags flying; the insecurity around identity causes peacock-like behaviour. Only by building our bowers can we be sure to stamp our individual and community identity on the world. This is why the kerb painting happens at interface areas; places where the insecure feel most need to assert themselves. It’s the show of silent strength, a warning and a sign of virility.

Copyright Christopher Holt LTD www.christopherholt.com 2006

My work involves the whole of Northern Ireland. I live in Bangor. Most of my work is around Belfast. A lesser amount around Derry. And even smaller amounts around the rest of Northern Ireland. And most of that is simply due to the population distribution and the critical mass needed to establish a viable business in this sector. But my work is in Northern Ireland. It bothers me to see small regions within this small province to so fiercely state their parochial identity that it causes the message to be lost. I had to advise a company to not describe themselves as “Ulster-based” because no-one, outside of the few people who care about such things, would even know where Ulster was. And none of them were the target audience. Similary, I spoke to NI Screen late in 2011 about making sure that their press releases regarding some film shoots refer to Northern Ireland because I saw some referring to Belfast when I know the shoots took place all over our wee province. An outsider won’t realise that the great company she saw from “Ulster” is even in the same town as the one which proudly describes itself as from “Derry” and they can’t be merely 70 miles from the third which is “Belfast-based”. We need to think carefully about the messages we send out and work on masking our insecurities.

I would ask that we not refer to Belfast, or Derry, or Newry or Cullybackey in our press releases. Have solidarity with your countryfolk. Respect them for where they come from, be it “Legenderry” or “Limavegas” and support them in their endeavours and remember that the whole of Northern Ireland is a tiny place. We’re never more than an hour from the sea. Never more than 30 minutes from a large body of water. We are alone on this small rock, an outpost of the United Kingdom (whether you like that or not, it won’t change it). Unlike the rest of the UK, we have a land border with a foreign country using a different currency with more lenient tax laws. We are very much isolated and we only have ourselves to rely on.

And because we are the underdog, we need to work harder at this. To work and establish that Belfast and Derry mean more than “The Troubles”. To make the province famous for more than sinkable ships and drunken footballers. And time travelling but ultimately failed cars.

When a story broke about a scam involving a local self-proclaimed venture capitalist, it crossed the world in hours but when we have good stories about Northern Ireland, we can barely get the time of day from the media. We have to change that too. It’s more than just releasing press releases, we need to start working on the message and preparing Northern Ireland for the market.

This isn’t really about the foreign companies which have invested in Northern Ireland; Nortel, Citi, Northgate, Allstate, Oracle to mention just a few. This is about the rise in indigenous talent, companies wholly owned by Northern Irish entrepreneurs. Companies like AirPOS, Planzai, Rumble Labs, Ecliptic Labs, Outsider Games, Troll Inc, Black Market Games, The Creativity Hub, The Design Zoo, Black North, Sixteen South, Waddellmedia, FRONT, Frank, Paperjam Design, Learning Pool, Kainos, RepKnight, Astute Labs, Conquest Dynamics, Purple Guerrilla and hundreds of others I can’t even fit in here. They’re the next source of wealth out there – and if you don’t believe me, look at STC (which was bought by Nortel), CEM (which eventually became the NI branch of Northgate), Meridio (sold to Autonomy), Wombat (which was bought by NYSE Euronext), ATG (bought by Oracle), Singularity (recently bought by Kofax), Lagan (recently purchased by Kana) and the most recent, World Desk (bought earlier this week by Desk Stream).

So, for the future, I don’t want to hear about Belfast or Derry or Newry or Cullybackey. I just want to hear about Northern Ireland. We need to make plans for the “Big Hub”, realising that every part of Northern Ireland is part of the digital vision for the province.

A big hub.

Simple Question: Where did HBO shoot A Game of Thrones?

The simplest answer is “Belfast”, but that’s not entirely accurate. Only a percentage of the shots were taken in Belfast and the rest were shot in Saintfield, Audley’s Castle, Banbridge, Parkgate, Downhill Beach, Magarahorn Quarry and the list continues.

I’m asking that we end the tendency for provincial thinking in Northern Ireland. I’ve seen this most recently with the number of regions (meaning: towns, counties) proposing their new strategies for the incumbent digital knowledge economy and with precious little thought about the bigger picture.

I have always championed the whole of Northern Ireland. I’ve been to every corner of the province and spoken to anyone who had a notion about the future economy and what I’m asking is an end to individual notions of regional advantage. This isn’t about Belfast any more than it is about Derry or Newry or Strabane. This is all about Northern Ireland.

We should be inclusive rather than exclusive. There is no part of Northern Ireland that is not a commuter region for any other part of Northern Ireland. You can get almost anywhere in the province within 90 minutes and you’re seldom more than 50 miles from the coast. We’re such a small region that it doesn’t make sense to promote our differences and borders.

So I’m asking of you, and more importantly the public sector and ALBs/NGOs:

• When talking about the new and shiny, refer to Northern Ireland rather than individual towns unless there is a very specific reason to be exclusive.
• Standardise the programmes and developments across the region. If something is happening in Derry, then it should be happening in Newry and Strabane (and Enniskillen and Dungiven).
• For equality of opportunity, centralise activities in central urban areas. This reduces the chance that any development is going to be on the “wrong side” of the city for a specific community.

And my justification for the above?

Have a look at the geographical distribution of digital businesses in Northern Ireland. There’s a big number beside Belfast but the much more interesting statistic is the number of areas which only have 1-2 businesses resident. They’re spread all over Northern Ireland.

It is kinda important that you add your tuppence to this survey.

The biggest issue I see is this constant fascination with DOWNLOAD speeds.

“23% of consumers in Northern Ireland are on average receiving less than 2Mbits/sec over their broadband connections. This percentage is higher than anywhere else in the UK.”

“The Ofcom report also states that the average maximum speed available around Belfast is 8.9Mbits/sec compared to 5.7Mbits/sec in Coleraine, 4.3 Mbits/sec in Fermanagh, and 5.4 Mbits/sec in Down district.”

“Mobile coverage in Northern Ireland remains lower than the rest of the UK. 87% of the population of Northern Ireland live in a postcode district with at least 90% 2G coverage; however the figure for 3G coverage is much lower at 54%. This is well below the UK average of 95%.”

The title of this post came from the Dumb Little Man Tips For Life blog.

Considering my employer, it would seem to embody everything I believe is needed to be effective in my day job.

A new Cultural Tourism app competition for Northern Irish mobile companies.

The DCAL initiative aims to harness the innovation and entrepreneurial potential of culture, arts and leisure by encouraging local digital companies to use these sectors as a source of inspiration and content for mobile Apps. Digital technologies are transforming how people access information and how business sectors, such as tourism, communicate with consumers. Billions of Apps are downloaded globally each year and this competition offers opportunities to grow the creative industries and tourism sector in the north of Ireland.

The competition is being managed by Momentum / Digital Circle, which promotes the ICT and digital content sector in the north of Ireland. Local digital companies are invited to put forward creative and innovative ideas for two apps showcasing Irish and Ulster-Scots culture respectively. The winning applications will be funded to develop the apps in time for the 2012 tourism season.

The tender documents are located:

• Ulster-Scots Tender
• GAA-Comhaltas Tender

Greg Maguire tweeted:

STEM + A = STEAM what this economy will run out of without creative thinking.

I recently signed on as a STEMnet ambassador. W5 is the local delivery agent for STEMnet in Northern Ireland and it’s a good home for a worthy project. If you have an interest in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (including design, programming, the web), then you really should register.

During my first piece of work for them, I had the opportunity to provide some guidance for students and made the point that Science and Technology and Engineering and Mathematics are great – but there is a part of science and mathematics that is imagination, part of technology and engineering that is design.

In many ways it was easier in the “olden” days when I was at school. School seemed less about preparing a student for the workplace and more about educating and testing the student to see what they were capable of. While they didn’t get everything right, I’m also certain they didn’t get everything wrong.

You can read the full text or just my highlights:

I. Digital Single Market

• First, because a digital Single Market seems such an obvious step. In principle, it should be easier to sell digital goods from a distance than “real” goods. … If I can watch my local team’s football matches using online pay-per-view in one Member State, why not in 27?
• 31% of retailers think a more harmonised regulatory environment would boost their cross-border sales.
• To be a Chief Information Officer in Europe, having to comply with 27 data protection regimes or facing 27 different legal environments for Cloud Computing is daunting and bad for business.
• The Single Market is at the centre of the EU.

II. Digital Content and Open Data

• When it comes to content, the public sector can lead. I’m just back from a trip to Kenya, where the Government has begun to open up its public sector, providing valuable raw material for others to use, for instance weather data and demographic statistics. And the Kenyan people are already seeing the benefits, whether as businessmen, civil society groups, researchers, citizens, or public authority representatives.
• We need to change that, we need to overcome the inertia to this development in the public sector. I want public sector workers on all levels to be proud of providing a first-rate data and information service to citizens which can be re-used to create new content and new services

III. Trust and Privacy online

• I believe we need sound rules based on three principles:
  First, transparency so that citizens know exactly what the deal is.
  Second, fairness so that citizens are not forced or tricked into sharing their data.
  And third, user control so that citizens can decide – in a simple and effective manner – what they allow others to know.
• I also want to improve confidence by, for example, ensuring people know their children can surf safely, respectfully and responsibly; and countering the increasing number of cyber-threats against our networks and infrastructures.

IV. Broadband for all

• Perhaps most importantly, we must ensure we have super fast digital networks for everyone: the oxygen of the digital ecosystem.

V. Cloud Computing

• Smaller companies and start-ups in particular have much to gain from the cloud
• But smaller companies also have the least resources and market leverage to negotiate a market place dominated by uncertainty and missing, incomplete or unclear rules.
• Another issue is data portability: smaller companies typically do not have a strong negotiating situation with their suppliers. Clear commitments by such suppliers to data portability, to not making it unnecessarily difficult for customers to switch, are therefore essential.
• Cloud computing has no natural geographical borders and we are therefore also working with our international partners on this

Are these not reasonable and obvious suggestions?

My concern is how many of them will transfer to a small region to the north of a backwater island in the far west of Europe.

There is an inevitability of a concentration on the digital knowledge economy for Northern Ireland. We have a thriving group of developers and designers in Belfast, a huge amount of ambition in the North West and a heap of activity building in the Southern and Western counties of the province.

Last week I went to the Digital Hub along with Momentum, Belfast City Council, InvestNI and representatives from DCAL and OFMDFM.

We heard the spiel about how it brought some regeneration to the area, that they still have a considerable subvention from the government after 10 years (less than €2m a year, but overall investment has been around €30m since inception and may not include transferred assets).

I also spoke to some of the guys in some of the businesses. They said they wish the Hub was one mile closer to the city centre, that the reason they use bikes and public transport is because they don’t want to bring their cars to that area of town and even the big lads feel a little concerned leaving the Hub with a laptop.

It re-iterates my belief that a city centre location for a Belfast Hub is essential. Not least because Davy Sims put together a map of Digital Media companies in Northern Ireland back in February of 2010 and discovered most were within a square mile in the city centre.

View Belfast Media Square Mile in a larger map

I don’t think we want a straight property play like the Hub in Dublin. We’re a small region with a big ambition so we have to think much more strategically about what goes where. We also need to be 100% joined up. I think I have the support of the Digital Circle steering group in my opinions and in my vision for a digital hub-type infrastructure in Northern Ireland. It’s a big plan, an ambitious plan, even an audacious plan and if it delivers, it will bring the concept to the province as a whole rather than just to a small region.

From Techcrunch:

Well known US VC house Greylock Partners is launching a brand new $160 million fund aimed at internet technology companies, with the fund being deployed between Europe and Israel.
..
We’ve confirmed that the fund will be run from London by Laurel Bowden, a Partner, and will cover investments from early stage and beyond.

As the fund is being run from London, I wonder how many of our local digital content companies will take advantage of the cheap flights and go and present themselves to Laurel Bowden, the Partner and manager of the fund. And if not, why not?